THE FACE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY (And why people are moving away from it in droves.)

UPDATE III:

More racism from your friendly Republican Party. They just can't help themselves. Sen. Obama has truly let their inner racist emerge and flourish.

Racist GOP mailing depicts Obama surrounded by KFC, watermelon, and food stamps.»

A local California GOP women’s organization’s most recent newsletter claims that if Obama is elected, his face will appear on food stamps, rather than dollar bills like other presidents. The group then included a picture of “Obama Bucks” — a phony $10 bill with Obama surrounded by racist imagery:

The president of the organization, Diane Fedele, didn’t understand the charges of racism: “I didn’t see it the way that it’s being taken. I never connected. It was just food to me.”

One African-American member of the club said that upon seeing the newsletter, she “cried for 45 minutes.” “This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party,” she added. (HT: TPM and Oliver Willis)

UPDATE II:

“Joke” About Killing Obama Circulated By Top GOP Figure

Al Austin, a veteran, high-level Republican fundraiser from Tampa, today sent an email to his list of his political contacts containing a joke that refers to the assassination of Barack Obama.

When asked about the email, Austin said it was a mistake and apologized, and that he wouldn’t knowingly have circulated it. He said he intended to send an apology and retraction to the same email list.

Austin said he forwarded the email to a list of his politicaly contacts without fully reading it.

The joke concerns a group of school children discussing the definition of “tragedy,” as opposed to “great loss” or “accident.” The punch line comes when one child says that if an airplane carrying Obama and his wife, Michelle, “was struck by a ‘friendly fire’ missile and blown to smithereens,” the event might be a tragedy, “because it certainly wouldn’t be a great loss, and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”

Austin acknowledged sending the email to his list of political contacts, but said he forwarded it without fully reading it and didn’t know what it said. That list included at least two reporters.

According to the forwarding history on the email, it had been gone through at least two other individuals before being sent to Austin Tuesday.

Austin, a prominent real estate developer long known as one of the state’s leading Republican campaign fundraisers, has served in recent years as finance chairman for both the national and state Republican parties.

UPDATE on McCain/Palin campaign and inciting its mobs to violence:

Breaking news: Secret Service investigating threat from Scranton Palin rally
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a threatening remark directed at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during a political event in Scranton. The agency followed up on a report in The Times-Tribune that a member of the crowd shouted, "Kill him!" after one mention of Mr. Obama's name during a rally Tuesday for Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. The remark came while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd at the Riverfront Sports Complex. There is no indication

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Sacramento County GOP removes website materials urging people to ‘Waterboard Barack Obama.’

Yesterday, the Sacramento County Republican party removed from their website images that likened Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to Osama bin Laden.

One of the images “encouraged people to ‘Waterboard Barack Obama’”:

The chairman of the Sacramento County Republican party, Craig MacGlashan, told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, “Some people find it offensive, others do not.

I cannot comment on how people interpret things.”

Earlier this week, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, Jeffrey M. Frederick, also compared Obama to bin Laden.